Community participation for equity and excellence in health care. General discussion II.
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The medical profession lacks an analysis of society and medical care is individualistic rather than societal, curative rather than preventive. This paper, which reports on experience in the field, shows how community health should help people to reflect and discover the causes of their poverty and ill health so that they may be able to tackle effectively the issues of social injustice such as low wages and other forms of exploitation. Community health, then, becomes a way of motivating the people to mobilize themselves to resist the domination of the traditionally powerful. If this is not done, community health may remain only a social service that keeps the people dependent and not participants in the process of their own development.
In 1992 patient accrual to the National Cancer Institute-sponsored Breast Cancer Prevention Trial was initiated in the United States and Canada. The Trial will involve 16,000 women who are evaluated to be at high risk of developing breast cancer. Nearly 250 health care organizations are participating in the Trial, including over 40 Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) organizations, which are a component of the NCI's national clinical trials program. A previous NCI-funded evaluation conducted by the University of North Carolina showed the CCOP program to be an effective means of transferring the latest cancer technology, particularly cancer treatments, to the community setting. This paper describes a study designed to evaluate the performance of CCOP organizations in the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial. Using data from the first fifteen months of the Trial, the ability of CCOPs to accrue women is assessed using panel data estimation techniques. An attempt is made to predict accrual by structural, process, and environmental characteristics of participating CCOPs. Factors predictive of accrual include month in which accrual occurred and the extent of competition for trial participants in the CCOP service area. The hypothesized model explains slightly over 19 percent of the variation in accrual performance. The analysis demonstrates the utility of a panel data approach to modeling the dynamics of CCOP participation in a chemoprevention clinical trial.
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The community participation in the health systems is a concept that develops from the health policy proposals that have led the World Health Organization and that they highlight the fundamental role of health promotion and of primary care to answer to the health challenges from the middle of the XXth century. Its development has encountered big obstacles that have become major from the increasing trend of introduction of healthcare marketing. This explains partly its scanty advance in the developed countries, though there exist very interesting experiences that are based especially on the effort of professionals and social organizations. The fundamental dilemma is one in the option among the assumption of the role like consumers or clients that it supports a relation subordinated of the patients with a major dependence of the consumption, or on the contrary to give voice and vote for the citizens incorporating them into the productive process and turning them into producers of health. There are analyzed also the existing practices of community participation in Spain and offers are realized for its impulse and development.
The Mid North Rivers Management Planning Project (MNRMPP) of the Environment Protection Agency, Department for Environment and Heritage began as a response to community concerns regarding watercourse related issues in the Mid North of South Australia. In response to these concerns the MNRMPP project team developed rapid, cost effective methods to collect and assess data, establish collaborative partnerships with stakeholder organisations, ensure community involvement, and initiate mechanisms to sustain local involvement past the life of the project. Environmental water requirements were identified, along with key watercourse management issues; the integration of these two components of the study enabled more informed decision making regarding watercourse management within the study area. The integration of these components and the involvement of the community and stakeholders through all components of the project has resulted in a sense of ownership and an increase in awareness of watercourse related issues. This has increased the prospect of individuals and organisations implementing the management options and priorities identified within the plan, and has promoted the long term involvement of these groups in better watercourse management.
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The priorities of public health planners are often at variance with the community's own environmental sanitation priorities and perspectives. Public opinion about individual, collective, and governmental responsibilities in addressing these issues and priorities is of particular importance when designing community-based programs. In a study conducted in Trinidad and Tobago on knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding dengue, its prevention and control, a high level of awareness about dengue and its etiology was evident, but there was poor understanding of the symptoms and hence little concern about the health risks associated with it. The most important household pest problem identified by the respondents was related to mosquito nuisance, particularly from night-biting mosquitoes. Rodents were also a major concern perceived as being responsible for economic losses, ruined food, and a health hazard. Unreliable water supply, a factor associated with Aedes aegypti abundance, was an environmental sanitation issue of major importance to householders in rural areas. No correlation was found between knowledge of dengue and levels of Ae. aegypti abundance as measured by larval surveys of the respondents' premises. The study gave a clear indication of the need for broad-based environmental sanitation strategies when planning community-based vector control initiatives for the prevention and control of dengue in Trinidad and Tobago.
Groups of villagers, the care groups, are involved in prevention and treatment of trachoma within their own communities. The effect of the scheme on standards of hygiene and prevalence of trachoma has been evaluated by randomised cluster sampling methods. The number of households who were digging refuse pits, acquired individual face cloths and were aware of the role of good hygiene in the prevention of trachoma exceeded significantly those in (control) villages without a care group, in contrast the acquisition of pit latrines showed an insignificant increase. The prevalence and intensity of active trachoma was found to be significantly reduced as a result of the intervention of the care groups. This scheme has been totally integrated into the primary health care system of the area.
With about 2.2 million Americans currently using wheeled mobility devices, wheelchairs are frequently provided to people with impaired mobility to provide accessibility to the community. Individuals with spinal cord injuries, arthritis, balance disorders, and other conditions or diseases are typical users of wheelchairs. However, secondary injuries and wheelchair-related accidents are risks introduced by wheelchairs. Research is underway to advance wheelchair design to prevent or accommodate secondary injuries related to propulsion and transfer biomechanics, while improving safe, functional performance and accessibility to the community. This paper summarizes research and development underway aimed at enhancing safety and optimizing wheelchair design.
This article discusses the need for donor agencies and recipient organizations to involve target communities in the conceptualization, development, monitoring, and implementation of health services and programs in international health. This paper assumes that most donor organizations are based in industrialized countries. Given that resources are finite in both developing and developed countries, the article briefly reviews the current trend of declining public funds for health systems and an increasing role for privately funded health services worldwide. The article calls for community-based international health services that reflect the priorities of target populations, and it also discusses practical steps to involve local populations in community-based health planning and management in international health.
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